\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tBob Bagby
\nCEO B&B Theatres<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Bagby<\/p>\n
\t\tBob Bagby\t<\/p>\n
\n\tCEO, B&B Theatres
Missouri-based circuit with 53 locations across 16 states<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat is the biggest obstacle in getting audiences to theaters?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tHaving a diverse supply of movies on a year-round basis. Since COVID, we get a wonderful selection of movies over the holidays, and then into January, there\u2019s nothing big to keep people in the habit of going. We need studios to release movies year-round and not just put all the movies during summer and Christmas.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat became an unexpected hit in 2025? \t<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSuperman\u201d did better than we anticipated. \u201cSinners\u201d was a big one. It was just good. And it was original IP, which is exciting.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat genre would you like to see more of? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tRomantic comedies used to do really well, and there haven\u2019t been nearly as many. And family movies because they do really well for us in the Midwest.<\/p>\n
\t\tHow many trailers are ideal to show before a movie? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe try to stick to the preshow of 15 minutes. Much over that, nearly 20 minutes, gets too long.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat is the most underrated concession stand snack? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe sell a lot of cotton candy. We make it fresh. It\u2019s kind of messy, but it\u2019s fun, and kids love it.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat\u2019s a bigger problem: talking or texting during the movie?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tTexting. We try hard to keep that from happening. We have the \u201cTurn your cellphones off \u201d message on the screen before the movie starts. It\u2019s just hard for people to put their phones away.<\/p>\n
\t\tRecliners or regular seats? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tWell, the audience has spoken, and they like recliners. They are very expensive to maintain, where the other seats would last years. Recliners are constantly needing to be replaced or repaired, and they are much more expensive. I wish we had the old seats back, but recliners are what the customers wanted, so that\u2019s what we have.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat will be the highest-grossing movie of the year? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tI\u2019ll say \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day.\u201d There\u2019s a real demand for it. The last one was really strong, and everybody likes Peter Parker.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tGreg Marcus
\nCourtesy of Marcus<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Marcus<\/p>\n
\t\tGreg Marcus\t<\/p>\n
\n\tCEO, Marcus Corporation (parent company of Marcus Theatres)
Milwaukee-based chain with 78 locations across 19 states<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat is your biggest obstacle as an exhibitor? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tTheatrical windows. If you want to maximize the value of a movie, windowing has worked forever. But the truth is that [shorter windows] are training people to not go to the movies at all. It\u2019s training them to wait until it\u2019s at home for what they perceive as free. Coalescing around a consistent window will be very helpful.<\/p>\n
\t\tIs price a factor in moviegoing? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe should be sensitive to it. The price of movie tickets has held close to inflation. But because of all the costs that we\u2019ve had to take on \u2014 from increased film rentals and the cost of distribution \u2014 we don\u2019t exactly have high margins. We have fewer films and shorter windows, so we\u2019ve been faced with no other choice but to raise our concession prices. We have to be very careful about that. Moviegoing still needs to be the cheapest form of out-of-home entertainment.<\/p>\n
\t\tHow do you offset slower months? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tYou cut your costs as tightly as you can. You can play alternative content, but this business wasn\u2019t built that way. It was built for national releases. If a great home experience was our only headwind \u2014 if we weren\u2019t dealing with shorter windows, lack of product and high film rentals \u2014 we could overcome the slower months with alternative content. But if you\u2019re asked to overcome a 20% decline in box office with alternative content, that\u2019s going to be a challenge.<\/p>\n
\t\tHow big of a problem is texting during the movies? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tIf you go to a teen-oriented movie on a Friday night, you are going to see a lot of people texting. But if you go to the same movie on a Wednesday night, you\u2019re not going to see that. It depends on the audience it\u2019s drawing. I went with some friends to \u201cM3GAN,\u201d and a bunch of high school kids were on their phones. I was like, \u201cYeah. That\u2019s what high schoolers do. We shouldn\u2019t go on a Friday night at 7 p.m. if we don\u2019t want to see that.\u201d Once in a while, someone is not courteous. Otherwise, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a huge problem.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tMike Bowers
\nCEO Harkins Theatres<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Kinkade<\/p>\n
\t\tMike Bowers\t<\/p>\n
\n\tCEO, Harkins Theatres
Scottsdale, Arizona-based circuit with 30 locations across four states<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat was your biggest takeaway from 2025? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tOriginal films performed so well. Look at Warner Bros.\u2019 incredible streak last year; \u201cSinners\u201d was a big swing that was rewarded with tremendous box office and awards.<\/p>\n
\t\tAre you worried about the Warner Bros. sale to Paramount?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe\u2019re always concerned about consolidation and the impact it could have on the availability of major releases. I have no reason to doubt the sincerity about Paramount\u2019s efforts, but we have to look at how this has played out in our industry in the past. Historically, consolidation has resulted in fewer wide release and less diversity of film product.<\/p>\n
\t\tWho are today\u2019s bankable stars? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tBrad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are still bringing people to the movies. Ryan Gosling \u2014 look what he has just done with \u201cProject Hail Mary.\u201d I would add that the success of \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d was on Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet. Zendaya and Tom Holland are the next generation. Austin Butler is a rising star.<\/p>\n
\t\tAre popcorn buckets still all the rage?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tYes, but we need to be thoughtful about what they really are. They are about adding whimsy and fun around the movie. If you\u2019re thinking that popcorn buckets are such a big revenue driver, you\u2019re missing the entire point. My company pursues very exclusive popcorn containers, and we expect them to run out in the first 48 hours. They\u2019re worthwhile, but the idea is not to just flood the market with stuff that ends up not being valuable or unique.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat does Hollywood get wrong about operating a movie theater? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tHow tremendous the moviegoing experience is throughout the country. Our industry has spent a couple of billion dollars since the pandemic investing in moviegoing. I\u2019ve been in this industry for 40 years, and it has changed dramatically during that time. Forty years ago, you had crammed-together seats that didn\u2019t move and small screens. And now you have tremendous audiovisual presentations, large screens and comfortable, wide rocking seats. You have enhanced food and beverage offerings. It\u2019s just night and day.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat streaming movie should have premiered in theaters? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe got the most requests on \u201cFrankenstein\u201d because of Guillermo del Toro.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tDaniel Fastlicht
\nCourtesy of Fastlicht<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Fastlicht<\/p>\n
\t\tDaniel Fastlicht\t<\/p>\n
\n\tCOO, The Lot
La Jolla-based dine-in chain with four locations in Southern California<\/p>\n
\t\tWho are today\u2019s bankable stars?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tMargot Robbie is somebody who\u2019s able to appeal to the four quadrants. We saw it happen again with \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d Leonardo DiCaprio also has that stardom effect.<\/p>\n
\t\tAre studios keeping their movies exclusively in theaters for long enough?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tStudios make decisions based on specific films and their performances. It doesn\u2019t help the industry because there\u2019s times where a studio will kick a movie to streaming earlier, and that tends to confuse the consumer. Then the consumer is more willing to wait it out to see it on a streaming service. Because of that perception, theatrical needs to have a [defined] window.<\/p>\n
\t\tIs price a factor in the dine-in space?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIn today\u2019s economy, prices are a factor for a lot of people. Our ticket prices are the same, if not cheaper than, some of our competitors\u2019, like AMC. When we have done price analysis for our food and beverages, we believe we\u2019re in a pretty good range. It might be $1 to $2 more than some of our competitors, but the quality of product is exceptional. You can get anything from flatbreads to Wagyu burgers and sliders. We believe the quality we\u2019re serving matches the price.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat\u2019s your bestselling food item?\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe service a lot of families, so our best-sellers are chicken tenders and sliders. Of course, after popcorn and soda.<\/p>\n
\t\tShould blockbusters cost more to see? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tI don\u2019t think so. If we were to start charging more for blockbusters, the studios would get a majority of that, which doesn\u2019t necessarily help the theater owner. And we have seen in some of our locations that a higher ticket price will probably drop attendance. So I\u2019m not sure a movie like \u201cAvengers\u201d would hold up to the same box office opening if tickets were 30% or 40% more expensive than every other film.<\/p>\n
\t\tHave you had to get more creative with marketing? \t<\/p>\n
\n\tWe came up with a program called \u201cGirl Dinner.\u201d It\u2019s dinner \u2014 a small Caesar salad, penne pasta and a side of fries \u2014 and a girl-themed movie. We\u2019ve done \u201cHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Days\u201d and a lot of rom-coms. It\u2019s targeted towards 21- to 36-year-olds. It was phenomenal. We\u2019ve had it sell out at all of our locations. Now it\u2019s about \u2026 what does \u201cGirl Dinner\u201d look like for people that are into Marvel? Or people who are into documentaries?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is the great movie theater reset truly, finally, actually upon us? Hollywood keeps prophesizing about the industry\u2019s long-awaited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,232746,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-576263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-cinemacon","10":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}